Prison Inequality: Women and Race --and a Stunning, but Unsurprising Oversight.

[Bonobo]

"Quiet Mike" has a lot to say about the inequality in US Justice System, how it is unfair to women and other minorities. Let me quote a bit:

http://quietmike.org/2015/01/31/prison-inequality-women-race/

I have long considered myself a feminist, although I suppose feminist women would say I am a feminist-supporter. I always find myself considering issues that women encounter, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Rather than focus on the media events these last few months, I want to bring up what I consider a serious issue of social inequality. It is statistically recognizable that women and minorities experience blatant social inequality in our judicial system, perhaps more so than outside of that system.

I wonder if you are aware that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.2 million people in prison or jails, and 4,781,300 people were on probation or parole in 2012, for a total of 6,937,600 people in America under some form of criminal justice supervision.

According to The Sentencing Project, in their fact sheet on Incarcerated Women, about 200,000 women were serving sentences in 2012, and more than 1 million were under the supervision of the criminal justice system, which included those on parole and probation.

If you've ALREADY spotted the rather massive elephant in the room here, 100 points for you. If not, let me do the math for you according to "Quiet Mike's" OWN numbers.......

2.2 million people in prison MINUS 200,000 women? That's umm, 2 million MEN in prison.

So the criminal justice system is unfair to WOMEN? Wait, that can't be true. 200,00 women to 2 million men? Let me look that up! ...

Yup, it's true. Men are incarcerated at a rate of 10x more than women. So cry some more about the war on women in US prisons.

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. In contrast, blacks are 6 times more likely to be in jail than whites.

In other words, black men who are in jail are there mostly because they are men.

[Bonobo]

2. It is stunning to me that anyone could even write such a tone-deaf article.

Or post as an OP.

With 10 times the number of men rotting away in prison, it is amazing that anyone could claim that it shows gender equality against women.

[F4lconF16]

3. Ignored this *mildly* pertinent part, eh?

“So a Black female offender is more likely to be incarcerated rather than placed on probation, as compared to her White counterpart, and also more likely to be incarcerated as compared to her male counterpart. Both her gender and her race seem to work against her.”

It never claimed that women were imprisoned more numerically, or that they are more likely to be imprisoned in general. It's that they are more likely to be imprisoned "compared to {their} male counterpart{s}".

But lets not let facts or things like actually reading the article get in the way of a good anti-feminist rant.

(And yes, the criminal justice system is pretty damn unfair to women. Want to talk about all the untested rape kits in Detroit and across the country? Want to talk about the systematic oppression of rape survivors, and an entire culture oriented against victims? Want to talk about the fact that there's very few high or medium security prisons for women, so they're often forced to spend their jail time thousands of miles from home? Want to talk about the fact that women are usually the primary care providers, and that there's very little childcare or options available? Want to talk about abuse of women by prison guards and officials? Want to talk about the revictimization of sexual assault survivors--estimated to be as high as 85-90% of women in prison--during strip searches and pat downs by men? Want to talk about the issue of pregnancy, prenatal care, and abortion services during incarceration?

I'm guessing probably not. )

[Major Nikon]

4. Well, you have to scroll down quite a ways before the author parses out race

The study referenced by the OP was for Oklahoma which has the highest rate of female incarceration in the country. If you use the national statistics you get a somewhat different picture. The suggestion that African-American women are incarcerated at a higher rate than African-American men or even men in general is far afield from reality.



As far as all the other things you listed, none of this is mentioned by the OP, but don't let that get in the way of a good rant, eh?

[F4lconF16]

5. Yes, it was in Oklahoma. The study was referenced in the article

and was a major point of the article, so I thought it was fair to refer to that in my post.

Also, you must have missed this part of the OP:

So the criminal justice system is unfair to WOMEN? Wait, that can't be true. 200,00 women to 2 million men? Let me look that up! ...

Reading is harrrrrd.

[Major Nikon]

6. Comprehension is as well, evidently

The title of the article is "Prison Inequality: Women and Race"

When 10 times more men are incarcerated compared to women, an inequality certainly exists, but not the one the author suggests.

The statistics in question were never qualified as applying only to Oklahoma and were mentioned directly after quoting statistics that applied to the entire US. You have to click on the link to find out the quoted text applies only to Oklahoma. What you call fair is disingenuous at best, so either you missed that part or you have no intention of discussing this topic in good faith or both.

[Bonobo]

7. Exactly. nt

[NaturalHigh]

8. You make many good points.

In all fairness, though, my beloved Sooner state actually locks up a lot of people for pot possession, so we probably skew a lot of statistics.

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. Men are given longer sentences for the same crimes

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/men-women-prison-sentence-length-gender-gap_n_1874742.html

No matter how you parse that paragraph, it is false. Black women are incarcerated less than men of any racial background. Black women are treated unfairly in comparison to white women only.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/Llgsfp.pdf